#Old Illustration # Red Willow Author Zhang Longbow Illustration Binding Fang Zengxian Children's Publishing House First Edition in 1966
The auspicious geese bring spring light. The spring breeze rippled on the grasstops, on the red willows, and the sky of the grassland was blue and blue, as bright as crystal stones. The hills of the grassland, as clearly outlined as the painting on it, the protruding ridges, like the fierce horses running in the wind with the fresh mane [liè], the concave mountain pass, green and lush, from a distance can tell which depression is a birch tree and which is hazel wood.
The small birch tree released the leaves of the young yellow, the silver-white dry, the red dead leaves mixed with the light green new shoots, looking colorful; Hazelnut wood, a piece of black squid (xù), like thick ink spilled out. The shèn that shèn had enveloped the ridged grasslands dissipated, and the lark burrowed into the pale jade-white clouds and welcomed spring with its song—the spring of Yihe Tara came late, already in mid-April.
Xiao Jiulian sat on the top of the mountain, holding his hands on his knees and thinking about things. She rode without a saddle or a chew, so she ran down the slope to graze freely, setting aside her sheep whip and scattering her flock among the hills, alone against the vast grassland.
